*I've got some bonuses and downloads for Gateless, some really good ones coming. The book is getting great reviews -- if you miss the blog here and haven't gotten your copy yet, go get it.

*My next book, aiming for Q2 or Q3 2015, has "crossed the threshold" where it's definitely going to happen. I'm going to engage in a little less conversation and a little more action as a general rule, but my writing practice goes well and the quality goes up. I'll be more publicly involved sooner or later; for now, I'm enjoying my intense private work cycles and quality improvements.

*Thanks for all the well-wishes, emails, and the positive reviews/feedback of Gateless. Love you guys.

I'm 50,000 words in, but I suspect I'll need to cut/re-write about half of them in addition to writing another 20k or 30k to get the core stuff complete. Whoever signs up for this, you're signing up for going through some very rough stuff.

Why do it? You'll get max-honest writing (I tend to remove things that could be misconstrued or arguments that the emotional impact would outstrip the benefits to thinking for final versions; you'd get to see the raw stuff), you'll be able to shape a work that thousands of people are going to read, and we'll be in touch to swap ideas/thoughts.

I don't need any proofreading or grammar yet -- the questions are very high level / structural / what's clear and what isn't / what's persuasive and what isn't. So it's not painstaking editing so much as noting when things are clear and when they're not.

There's often quick and immediate lessons in studying a narrow part of history relevant to your field. If you're the portfolio manager of a mutual fund, you should of course know the recent history of the various asset classes. If you're a Naval Admiral, you should of course know at least the history of naval warfare down cold. If you're a hostage negotiator, you should study a variety of hostage negotiation situations and how they played out.

This is all pretty obvious stuff. And indeed, most high-level practitioners study the recent history of their field at the very least.

It takes a bit more effort to explain why you should study the history of your country and how it emerged... but it doesn't take that much energy. Understanding the American Civil War, for Americans, has some obvious value. It still effects the modern day.

This still not a very hard sell. Most people learn something about how their country came to be where it is.

I made a startling discovery recently: all that video-game playing from age 8 to age 26 seems to have resulted in some permanent gains.

A few years ago, I basically swore games off. But similar to how meditation makes a person more resilient against all of life's absurdities, and how team sports instils a sense of how to cooperate and compete, it seems like the people that sought to master complex games from our generation are now able to take and build on them. The people who were mastery-oriented in playing a myriad of games seem to grasp a whole set of concepts faster and easier that are directly applicable to success today.

I had a phone call a few hours ago with one of the volunteers helping to make the GiveGetWin Tour 2015 a big success. He's already helped line up two of the dates between the coastal cities as we transit across America and I wanted to go beyond talking about Tour logistics and also make time to help him reach his goals.

His questions were a set of questions I get often: if I want to be able to work on interesting projects, with interesting people, and lots of freedom, how do I do it? How did you do it?

I could have, and eventually will, run him through the mechanics of getting to know people, how they come to trust you, how deals get struck and work gets done.

Last year on the GiveGetWin Tour, we covered over 6,500 miles by road.

Let me tell you this: America and Canada are beautiful countries and beautiful to drive through... but driving that much takes a serious mental toll on you.

Last year, our best two events were at NYU Stern (our ninth event) and UChicago (our fourteenth event). Our event at CU Boulder a few days ago, I think, was our third best of all-time -- and it was our second of the year.

We've used Regus shared working spaces very well on the GiveGetWin Tour, and they've been terrific to us. In particular, the Manhattan Regus at 411 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10003 was terrific; Jacqueline there is great.

You can get 15 free visits to the Regus Business Lounge if you have a United Airlines frequent flyer number at this link.

It's really useful. The most useful Regus locations for me have been in Shibuya in Tokyo (only place I found to get great WiFi and power outlets in that area), in China World in Beijing (the most beautiful location I've been... astounding), and the Lafayette Street Regus I mentioned above. If you're working with a small team and traveling, it's a godsend.

Thanks for all the good memories on the Second Annual GiveGetWin Tour -- we wrapped last night in Miami. What a fantastic city for a last Tour date, it's so beautiful here... we're going to get hit the beach as a team before everyone goes their separate ways.

And now, I'm pleased to announce that...

The third annual GiveGetWin Tour will kick off in October in Monterrey, Mexico and then head to Mexico City, and be USA-based after that.

Huge thanks and respect to Kai Zau and Chiara Cokieng for their great work, and thanks to all our hosts, speakers, collaborators, and administrators this year. We'll get more photos and thank-you pages up in the next couple weeks.

Carlos Miceli is joining next year's Tour as Audience Director, and we're going to be starting the planning cycle in early May. If you'd like your university/club/organization to have us next year, please send an email to me at sebastian@sebastianmarshall.com -- I'm taking a one-week vacation and I'll be getting back to my email in a week, but definitely jump into the process early if you'd like us to come by.

Hello old friend, if you've been missing the blog here, then you'll be pleased to know that Roguelike is out today on Amazon Kindle.

100% new. It's The Inner Game of Tennis or What I Talk About When I Talk About Running -- learning about the nature of the universe through a very specific lens -- and it happens to be from the genre of the hardest video games on the planet.

I think you'll enjoy it -- reviews and feedback are always incredibly appreciated. Regards from Istanbul,